The primary purpose of this research is to examine the ways chemical use and abuse affect how the elderly cope with stress, and how such use can be maladaptive. The elderly consume a disproportionately greater amount of chemicals and are at greater risk for inadvertent abuse than other age groups. Despite mounting evidence that chemical abuse among the elderly is a significant problem, little is known about its influence on adaptational outcomes such as morale, social functioning and health, or about the psychological or social mechanisms through which such influence is exerted. This research will examine day-to-day sources of stress in the elderly, effects of chemicals on the processes used to cope with stress, and on short- and long-term adaptational outcomes. An ipsative-normative design allowing both intraindividual and interindividual analyses will be employed. Subjects will be 150 white, middle-class community-residing men and women, 65-74 years old, and living in the San Francisco East Bay. A series of ten assessment interviews with each subject will be conducted. The research will examine relationships among antecedent variables (e.g., patterns of chemical use or abuse in the previous year and week preceding each interview, self-esteem, social supports, and health), process variables (e.g., cognitive appraisal, coping, and use and abuse of chemicals in specific, recently experienced stressful situations), and outcome variables (e.g., coping effectiveness, morale, social functioning, and health). Our goal is to identify empirically the ways various patterns of chemical use can constitute maladaptive coping by negatively affecting these processes and outcomes.